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E. Nesbit
| birth_place = Kennington, Surrey, England | death_date = May | death_place = New Romney, Kent, England | occupation = Writer, poet | nationality = English | period = 19th century, early 20th century | genre = children's literature | subject = | movement = | influences = | influenced = | signature = | website = }} Edith Nesbit Bland (15 August 1858 - 4 May 1924) was an English poet and prose author, whose children's works were published under the name of E. Nesbit. Life Overview Nesbit wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist who co-founded the Fabian Society, a precursor to the modern Labour Party. Youth Nesbit was born at 38 Lower Kennington Lane in Kennington, Surrey (now part of Greater London), the daughter of an agricultural chemist, John Collis Nesbit, who died in March 1862, before her 4th birthday. Her sister Mary's ill health meant that the family moved around constantly for some years, living variously in Brighton, Buckinghamshire, France, Spain, and Germany, before settling for 3 years at Halstead Hall in Halstead in north-west Kent, a location which later inspired The Railway Children (this distinction has also been claimed by the Derbyshire town of New Mills). When Nesbit was 17, the family moved again, this time back to London, living variously in South East London at Eltham, Lewisham, Grove Park and Lee. Marriage and career A follower of William Morris, 19-year-old Nesbit met bank clerk Hubert Bland in 1877. 7 months pregnant, she married Bland on 22 April 1880, though she did not immediately live with him, as Bland initially continued to live with his mother. Their marriage was a ménage à trois: Bland also continued an affair with Alice Hoatson which produced 2 children (Rosamund in 1886 and John in 1899), both of whom Nesbit raised as her own. Her own children were Paul Bland (1880-1940), to whom The Railway Children was dedicated; Iris Bland (1881-1950s); and Fabian Bland (1885-1900), who died aged 15 after a tonsil operation, and to whom she dedicated Five Children And It and its sequels, as well as The Story of the Treasure Seekers and its sequels. Nesbit and Bland were among the founders of the Fabian Society in 1884. Their son Fabian was named after the society. They also jointly edited the Society's journal Today; Hoatson was the Society's assistant secretary. Nesbit and Bland also dallied briefly with the Social Democratic Federation, but rejected it as too radical. Nesbit was an active lecturer and prolific writer on socialism during the 1880s. Nesbit also wrote with her husband under the name "Fabian Bland",The Prophet's Mantle (1885), a fictional story inspired by the life of Peter Kropotkin in London. though this activity dwindled as her success as a children's author grew. Nesbit lived from 1899 to 1920 in Well Hall House, Eltham, Kent (now in south-east Greater London), which appears in fictional guise in several of her books, especially The Red House. She and her husband entertained a large circle of friends, colleagues and admirers at their grand "Well Hall House"http://silvia-iannello.blogspot.com/2011/09/edith-nesbit-la-precorritrice-della.html. On 20 February 1917, some 3 years after Bland died, Nesbit married Thomas "the Skipper" Tucker, a ship's engineer on the Woolwich Ferry. She was a guest speaker at the London School of Economics, which had been founded by other Fabian Society members. Towards the end of her life she moved to a house called "Crowlink" in Friston, East Sussex, and later to St. Mary's Bay in Romney Marsh, East Kent. Suffering from lung cancer, she died in 1924 at New Romney, Kent, and was buried in the churchyard of St. Mary in the Marsh. Writing Nesbit published approximately 40 books for children, including novels, collections of stories and picture books. Collaborating with others, she published almost as many more. According to her biographer Julia Briggs, Nesbit was "the first modern writer for children": "(Nesbit) helped to reverse the great tradition of children's literature inaugurated by [Carroll|[Lewis Carroll]], [MacDonald|[George MacDonald]] and Kenneth Grahame, in turning away from their secondary worlds to the tough truths to be won from encounters with things-as-they-are, previously the province of adult novels." Briggs also credits Nesbit with having invented the children's adventure story. Noël Coward was a great admirer of hers and, in a letter to an early biographer Noel Streatfeild, wrote "she had an economy of phrase, and an unparalleled talent for evoking hot summer days in the English countryside." Barry Day, "The Letters of Noël Coward", (New York: Vintage Books, March 2009) 74. Among Nesbit's best-known books are The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1898) and The Wouldbegoods (1899), which both recount stories about the Bastables, a middle class family that has fallen on relatively hard times. Her children's writing also included numerous plays and collections of verse. She created an innovative body of work that combined realistic, contemporary children in real-world settings with magical objects - what would now be classed as contemporary fantasy - and adventures and sometimes travel to fantastic worlds. In doing so, she was a direct or indirect influence on many subsequent writers, including P.L. Travers (author of Mary Poppins), Edward Eager, Diana Wynne Jones and J.K. Rowling. C.S. Lewis wrote of her influence on his Chronicles of Narnia series. Nesbit also wrote fiction for adults, including 11 novels and many short stories, including 4 collections of horror stories. Recognition In popular culture C.S. Lewis mentions Nesbit's characters, the Bastable children (of The Treasure Seekers), in The Magician's Nephew. Michael Moorcock wrote a series of steampunk novels with an adult Oswald Bastable as the lead character. Publications Poetry *''All Round the Year'' (with Caris Brooke; illustrated by H. Bellingham Smith). London: Von Portheim, 1880. *''Lays and Legends. London: Longmans Green, 1886. *Leaves of Life. London & New York: Longmans Green, 1888. *''The Lily and the Cross. London : Griffith, Farran, Okeden & Welsh, 1890. *''Easter-tide: Poems'' (with Caris Brooke). London: Henry J. Drane, 1890; New York: Dutton, 1890. *''Lays and Legends: Second series. London & New York: Longmans Green, 1892. *A Pomander Of Verse. London: John Lane, 1895. *''Rose Leaves. London: Ernest Nister, 1895. *''Songs of Love and Empire. Westminster: Constable, 1897. *The Rainbow and the Rose. London & New York: Longmans Green, 1905. *Ballads and Lyrics of Socialism 1883-1908'' London: A.C. Fifield, for the Fabian Society, 1908. *''Many Voices. London: Hutchinson, 1922. audio Novels *''The Prophet's Mantle.London: Henry J. Drane, 1888. *''The Marden Mystery''. 1896? (very rare; few if any copies survive) *''The Secret of Kyriels''. London: Hurst & Blackett, 1899. *''The Red House. New York & London: Harper, 1902. *Man and Maid. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1906. *The Incomplete Amorist. London: Constable, 1906; New York: Doubleday, Page, 1906. *''Salome and the Head. London: Alston Rivers, 1909; Toronto: Musson, 1909 **published in U.S. as The House With No Address. New York: Doubleday, Page, 1909. *''Daphne in Fitzroy Street'' New York: Doubleday, Page, 1909; Toronto: Musson, 1909. *''Dormant''. London: Methuen, 1911 **published in U.S. as Rose Royal. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1911. *''The Incredible Honeymoon. London: Hutchinson, 1921. *''The Lark. London: Hutchinson, 1922. Short fiction *''Something Wrong'' (horror stories). London: A.D. Innes, 1893. *''Grim Tales'' (horror stories). London: A.D. Innes, 1893. *''The Butler in Bohemia''. London: Henry J. Drane, 1894. *''In Homespun. London: John Lane / Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1896. *''Tales Told in the Twilight (horror stories; contributor).London: E. Nister, 1897. *''Thirteen Ways Home''. London: A. Traherne, 1901. *''The Literary Sense. London: Methuen, 1903; New York: Macmillan, 1903. *''These Little Ones. London: George Allen, 1909. *''Fear'' (horror stories). London: S. Paul, 1910. *''The Three Mothers: A story for Christmas''. London: Catholic Truth Society, 1920. *''To the Adventurous''. London: Hutchinson, 1923. *''The Power of Darkness: Tales of Terror''. London: Wordsworth, 2006. Non-Fiction *''Wings and the Child; or, The building of magic cities. London & New York: Hodder & Stoughton, 1913. Juvenile Verse *''Spring Songs and Sketches (illustrated by Robert Ellice Mack). London : Griffith, Farran, 1886. *''The Pilot''. 1891. *''Many Voices. London: Hutchinson, 1922. audio Novels *The Railway Children. London: London : Wells Gardner, Darton, 1906. *The Enchanted Castle. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1907. *The Magic City. London: Macmillan, 1910. *The Wonderful Garden. London: Macmillan, 1911. *''The Magic World. London: Macmillan, 1912. *''Wet Magic. London: Laurier, 1913. *''Five of Us and Madeline. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1925; New York: Adelphi, 1926. ;Bastable series *''The Story of the Treasure Seekers: Being the adventures of the Bastable children in search of a fortune. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1899. ''audio *''The Wouldbegoods: Being the further adventures of the treasure seekers. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1901. *The New Treasure Seekers. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1904; New York: Stokes, 1904. *Oswald Bastable And Others'' (short stories). London : Wells Gardner, Darton, 1905. *''Complete History of the Bastable Family''. London: Ernest Benn, 1928 **published in U.S. as The Bastable Children. New York: Coward-McCann, 1929. ;Psammead series *''Five Children and It. London: T. Fisher Unwin / Edinburgh: Morrison & Gibb, 1902. ''audio *''The Phoenix and the Carpet. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1903. *The Story of the Amulet. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1906. ;House of Arden series *The House of Arden: A story for children. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1908. *Harding's Luck'' 1909; London: Hodder & Staughton, 1909, 1913. Story collections *''Miss Mischief''. London: Ernest Nister / New York: Dutton, 1880. *''Maytime and Playtime''. London: Ernest Nister / New York: Dutton, 1894. *''Tick Tock, Tales of the Clock''. London: 1896. *''The Children's Shakespeare''. London & New York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1895. **also published as Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare. New York: Weathervane, 1907 **''The Best of Shakespeare: Retellings of 10 classic plays''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. *''Royal Children of English History. London & New York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1899. *''A Book of Dogs. London: 1898. *''Pussy and Doggy Tales. London: Dent, 1899.E. Nesbit, Online Books Page, Univesity of Pennsylvania. Web, Jan. 29, 2017. *The Book of Dragons. London & New York: Harper, 1901. *Nine Unlikely Tales for Children. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1901. *''The Revolt of the Toys. London: Ernest Nister / New York: Dutton, 1902. *''The Rainbow Queen, and other stories''. London & New York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1903. *''Playtime Stories''. London & New York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1903. *''The Story of Five Rebellious Dolls''. London: Ernest Nister / New York: Dutton, 1904. *''Cat Tales''.London: Ernest Nister / New York: Dutton, 1904. *''Pug Peter, King of Mouseland''. Leeds, UK, & London: Alf Cooke, 1905. *''The Old Nursery Stories''. London: Henry Frowde / Hodder & Stoughton, 1908. *1982 Melisande (story reprinted from Strand Magazine, 1900). London: MacDonald, 1982; San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988. *''The Cockatoucan'' (story reprinted from Strand Magazine, 1900). London: Beehive, 1987; New York: Dial, 1987. *''The Seven Dragons, and other stories. Aegypan Press, 2006. ''Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Edith Nesbit, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Jan. 30, 2017. Audio / video *Richard Mitchley & Ghizela Rowe, Edith Nesbit: The poetry (audiobook). London: Portable Poetry, 2012. See also *List of British poets References External links ;Poems *"Ballad of a Bridal" in A Victorian Anthology *"August" * Selected Poetry of Edith Nesbit (1858-1924) (2 poems) at Representative Poetry Online *Edith Nesbit at PoemHunter (309 poems) *Edith Nesbit at Poetry Nook (331 poems) ;Prose *Melisande by E. Nesbit, a tale similar to Rapunzel *[http://www.forgottenfutures.com/game/ff8/mworld.htm The Magic World] *My School Days (article series by Nesbit) ;Audio / video *Free audiobooks by E. Nesbit from LibriVox *E. Nesbit at YouTube ;Books * *E. Nesbit at the Online Books Page * *E. Nesbit at Amazon.com ;About *E. Nesbit in the Encyclopædia Britannica *Edith Nesbit at Spartacus Educational *The Writing of E. Nesbit by Gore Vidal *"Five children and a philandering husband: E Nesbit's private life" *Bill Greenwell: 'Lost Lives - Edith Bland' Category:1858 births Category:1924 deaths Category:20th-century British children's literature Category:Cancer deaths in England Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:English children's writers Category:English fantasy writers Category:English socialists Category:Female authors who wrote under male or gender-neutral pseudonyms Category:People from Kennington Category:Women of the Victorian era Category:Members of the Fabian Society Category:Ghost story writers Category:19th-century poets Category:19th-century women writers Category:20th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:English poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets Category:English novelists